Great Neck Plaza has become a sad and uncared for village. Storm drains are clogged, litter is everywhere; dead shrubs abound and weeds are growing from the medians in the roads and from between the dangerous bricks that protrude from the sidewalks.
There are painted “bicycle paths” in the streets that only riders with a death wish would use. Accidents are commonplace at the Barstow Road roundabout where greenery tops the tall mounds of dirt which block drivers’ views of oncoming cars. Dangerous and illogical pedestrian crossings force you to take your life in your hands just to cross the street.
Last year, Ted Rosen and trustee Pam Marksheid helped champion the village’s seventh “traffic calming” project in the Welwyn Road/Shoreward Drive area, which created another flawed infrastructure project in the village and added to the millions of dollars already spent on the six previous ones which have rendered this village unnavigable.
Residents, merchants and shoppers were forced to live with a construction nightmare for over a year, with filth everywhere, no place to park, and excessive noise from jackhammers and such. Area merchants suffered such extensive loss of revenue that they have filed suit against the village to recoup their financial losses.
The Welwyn/Shoreward “beautification” project installed two beds of greenery flanking the crosswalk in front of 8 Welwyn Road which have been left uncared for and are now overgrown with large weeds, several feet high. They have become such a terrible eyesore that they have devalued the co-ops adjacent to them.
On multiple occasions, I have seen good samaritans from the neighborhood get down on their hands and knees to attempt to pull out the weeds, but they are so pervasive that they just keep growing back stronger and larger.
The village’s “piece de resistance” in the disastrous Welwyn/Shoreward “beautification” project is the dangerous and unsightly granite protuberance in front of the post office that the administration foisted upon the community against its wishes—a textbook example of vanity over reason.
The park only reinforced the fiscal irresponsibility of an administration willing to spend well over six figures for an unwanted and dangerous custom granite installation, as opposed to giving the community something practical, useful and necessary—such as the residential garage that they promised residents and then reneged upon.
The shrubs that were planted behind the benches in the park are dead; there is tar oozing up from between the pavers. There are weeds popping out from between the granite stones.
In the dead of winter, the village planted five sapling trees in “special” tree pits covered with unsightly metal grates which quickly rusted and have continued to deface the pavers by spreading the rust all over the expensive granite every time it rains. Three of the five trees died.
During the entire pandemic, the current administration used COVID as an excuse for why they couldn’t address many village needs, saying they needed to focus on helping their constituents. But the village had no problem prioritizing time, money and manpower to remove the dead trees in the park and plant new ones.
In his 35 years involved in Plaza politics, Ted Rosen has championed numerous policies that have worked against improving the village, causing an erosion in the reputation of Great Neck Plaza as a prime shopping destination. And during those 35 years, he has failed to address the safety of residents, ignoring the reality that Great Neck Plaza suffers from one of the highest rates of pedestrian and vehicular accidents in the state.
In a recent North Hempstead YouTube interview, Rosen was asked for the three main pillars of his mayoral campaign. He responded as follows: (1) keeping the Plaza beautiful and making it attractive for others to come here; (2) meeting the 2020 challenges of the internet to help attract new businesses and make them successful by providing services to them; and (3) keeping the notion of treating everyone with dignity and respect.
Rosen has failed on all three counts. He has not kept the Plaza beautiful; it’s dirty and uncared for. Fewer and fewer people are coming here to live or work. He not only hasn’t succeeded in attracting new businesses, he has contributed to the overwhelming decline of them — resulting in large numbers of “FOR RENT” signs throughout the commercial center. Constituents’ concerns have been systematically overlooked and Rosen has been consistently non-responsive to their communications. Is that how he has treated everyone with dignity and respect?
The consensus among many residents and businesses is that our elected officials have been missing in action during the entire pandemic. They have not been proactive. Their “outreach” has consisted of forwarding messages from Judy Bosworth, Laura Curran and Governor Cuomo.
When it was extremely difficult to find masks during the heaviest outbreak of COVID, the mayor wrote in her newsletter that the village was working on acquiring 8,000 masks for the community. We never heard another word about them. And check out the village’s Facebook rating—it’s 1.8 out of 5! Doesn’t that tell you how Plaza constituents really feel?
Great Neck Plaza needs new blood! Leonard Katz’s team has the will, the drive and the energy to address what ails our village. Those running from the 25-year-old current administration are tired, worn and invisible.
Please make your voices heard for positive change in our village by writing in your votes on Sept. 15 to elect a team who will care about all the residents and businesses in Great Neck Plaza. I truly believe that Leonard Katz, Marnie Ives and Robert Farajollah will do precisely that.
Muriel Pfeifer
Village of Great Neck Plaza
